Replacement of joints, such as knees and hips, with artificial joints or joint prostheses has become quite common. During the course of joint replacement surgery it is necessary to prepare a bone, by shaping and resection techniques, to receive a prosthetic element. Several specialized guide and cutting devices are utilized to prepare the bone by accurate shaping and resection procedures.
The success of joint replacement surgery depends to a large extent on the proper placement of a prosthetic component upon a patient's bone. It is therefore essential that the bone receiving the prosthesis be properly prepared and resected. Accordingly, cutting and guide devices which assist surgeons in making precise cuts and resections to bone can contribute greatly to the success of joint replacement surgery.
Some patients undergoing knee arthroplasty require a posterior stabilized knee prosthesis femoral component which includes an intercondylar box. Implantation of such a prosthesis requires the resection of an intercondylar notch within the femur. The accuracy of the resection of the intercondylar notch is critical to the proper alignment of the prosthesis. A variety of guide and cutting devices are available to assist surgeons in properly resecting the patient's bone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,436 discloses modular surgical instrumentation for use in shaping the femur during knee replacement surgery. An advantage attributed to this instrument is that a patella groove may be formed in the femur utilizing a cutting guide which need not be removed in order to form a recess for an intercondylar stabilizing housing using a second cutting guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,104 discloses an apparatus for accurately placing and forming a recess in a distal portion of the femur to accommodate an intercondylar stabilizing housing of a posterior-stabilized knee implant prosthesis. Other such guides and cutting devices are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,176,684; 5,258,032; 5,415,662; 5,474,559; 5,554,158; and 5,569,259.
Instruments such as those described in the references noted above have helped to improve the accuracy of bone resection, particularly preparation of the distal portion of a femur for the introduction of a prosthesis, such as a posterior stabilized prosthesis. However, there remains a need for devices that are able to provide more accurate and effective bone resection. In addition, there is a need for modular devices that can effectively be used to resect different intercondylar notch widths and depths to accept different sized prostheses while using a minimum number of parts.